Markets recover in last hour, Anil Ambani stocks shoot up

4:00 pm The markets recovered losses in the last hour of trade. Sensex provisionally gained 250 points from the day's low and ended at 15,884.87, with 15 of its components in the positive territory.Nifty too turned positive to end at 4,777, up 27 points.

Anil Ambani stocks like RCom and RPower shot up 5 to 8 percent in the last hour of trade while Mukesh Ambani's RIL gained 3 percent today.

Sesa Goa closed 0.67 percent higher at Rs 165.40 even though foreign brokerage Citigroup assigned a 'Sell' rating on concerns of higher ore prices, rupee depreciation and slower clearance process for iron ore mines in India. The brokerage has set target price of Rs 159 for the stock.

Bharti Airtel rebounded by close but had fallen 4.05 percent at Rs330.2 by 3 pm on concerns that the Nigerian government's removal of a subsidy on auto fuels will reduce use of telecom services in the country as the cost of living goes up, two institutional dealers said.

Hindustan Copper rose 1.14 percent to Rs 269.80. The stock extended its five-day gain triggered by reports that the company has roped in three Chinese firms for boosting its output by four-fold spurt over the next five years.

M&M gains on plan to rollout new vehicles this year

3:05 pm M&M gains 0.04 percent or 0.25 points to Rs 650 on the company's plans to roll out six new vehicles by next fiscal. Of the six vehicles, Mahindra and Mahindra plans to roll out two electric cars and one compact SUV by November.

Also, ADA Group companies like Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Infra are trading firm in green with gain of around more than 1.5 to 4 percent.

2: 30 pm In a rather disappointing session, key equity indices trimmed their losses as European stocks opened higher. The Sensex is up 89 points and is currently trading at 15,938.99, while the Nifty is up 20 points at 4770.

Reliance Industries extended its gains, rising 1.7 percent, whileMaruti Suzuki jumped 1.97% on news that the company will soon raise prices of its cars. The gains could also be partly attributed to ERTIGA, the car maker's first compact multi-purpose vehicle, which was unveiled at the Auto Expo 2012 today.

2:00 pm Markets continue to trade in a narrow range as investors squre off positions across the board. European stocks open higher, rebounding from the previous day's sell off amid a strong batch of macroeconomic reports from the US on one hand and renewed tensions over Spain and Italy on the other.

Investors overlook reports that RBI reduced the minimum maturity period for ECB up to $20 million to three years as against the previous five years while it also raised the annual limit of FCCBs for companies to $750 million as against $500 million.

While Oil & Gas counters keep their head above the water thanks the resilient efforts by heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and BPCL, metal and capital goods are down about two percent.

Reliance Broadcast is up 3.7 % on being assigned 'A2' rating for its short term facilities. Credit rating agency, ICRA has also assigned 'BBB' rating to the long term facilities of the company.

Nifty back at 4,700; HPCL surges as crude prices dip

1:00 pm : Even though bears continue to rule the market, the Nifty has managed to back to the 4700 level and is currently trading down -1.01% at 4,702. Meanwhile the Sensex is still under stress and is currently trading at 15713.27, down 147 points.

All sector indices, baring oil and gas are in red.RIL, Sun Pharma, BPCL, Maruti Suzuki are among the gainers in Sensex and Nifty, while DLF, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, SBI, BHEL, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Tata Steel, L&T are among the loser.

Shares of Ranbaxy are trading down 249 percent at Rs 429 after CLSA downgraded the stock and Watson CEO Paul Bisaro said he expects 50:50 split with Ranbaxy in the sale of generic Lipitor in the US market. Both the companies have exclusive rights to sell copies of Pfizer's cholesterol pill Lipitorfor 180 days before others start selling their copies.

Pantaloon Retail soars, cement stocks decline on reports of price cut

12:30 pm Pantaloon Retail soars on bourses and is currently trading at Rs. 134.80, up by 2.15 points or 1.62 percent.A part of Future Group, the fashion retailer has launched its first concept store in VIzag at Dabagardens, TSR Complex Alipuram Ward, which makes the advent of Pantaloons "Next Gen" Journey in Vizag.

Cement shares decline on reports thatthree leading cement companies ACC, Ambuja Cements and Jaiprakash Associates have on Thursday reportedly agreed to slash prices by Rs 25 per bag of 50 kg in Himachal Pradesh with immediate effect.ACC is down 1.65%, Ambuja Cements is down 1.69 percent and Jaiprakash Associates is down 3.77 percent.

Meanwhile the cabinet hasapproved the proposal for transfer of RBI's stake in the National Housing Bank (NHB) to the government and further course is likely to be concluded by March-end.

Fortis jumps 2% as ECL Finance, 6 others buy stake in it

12:00 Bearish sentiments and fears of disappointing quarterly numbers continue to drag markets lower. The 30-share index, which had lost over 82 points in the past two sessions, fell further by 1 percent , to 15,698 points with metal, capital goods and power stocks leading the fall.

Markets across the world are nervous ahead of Spain and Italy bonds auction next week.

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL)said today that it started commercial generation of power at its third unit of 135MW as Dongamahua, Raigarh in Chhattisgarh on January 1, 2012.The stock is down 3.01 percent and is currently trading at Rs 466 on BSE.

Among the gainers, Fortis Healthcare jumps 2.02 percent to trade at Rs 91.50 on BSE on ECL Finance and six others acquiring 6.18 percent stake in it.ECL Finance and six other entities have acquired 25,052,222 shares, representing 6.18% stake in Fortis Healthcare . However, financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Maruti gains as co plans to hike prices by 2-3%

11:30 Sensex continues to extend losses for a third consecutive day as many companies are likely to be hit by high borrowing costs and slowing growth. It is currently trading down 172 points at 15, 686, while the Nifty breaks the 4700 level and trades down 1.15 percent at 4.695. Investors are expecting companies to post forex losses bigger than what is estimated.

Banking stocks lead losses with State Bank of India , falling 1.9% after the top lender said it considered loans given to cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines as non-performing assets.Private-sector lenders ICICI Bank fall 2.5 percent and HDFC Bank was down 0.8 percent.

However, Maruti Suzuki rises on price hike plan for its entire product. The stock currently trades at Rs 940 up by 7.35 points on BSE. In a bid to offset the impact of rupee depreciation, the car maker is planning to increase prices of its entire product by 2 to 3 percent from next week.

Sensex near day's low; banks down on rising concerns over bad loans

11:00 am Weighed down by banks, metal , auto and telecom stocks, the Nifty has broken the 4,700 level amid heavy selling . Europe's debt burden and India Inc's earning season next week could put the market under more pressure.

Meanwhile the Sensex trades near the day's low, down 159 points at 15, 697. Ambit Capital maintains a 14,500 target for the Sensex.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel , continuing its fall for third session today and is down 3.62 percent at Rs 331.90 as telecom ministry seeks to ban 3G roaming pact. Idea Cellular too is currently down 0.85 percent at Rs 81.45 after a PTI report said that DoT is likely to terminate six Idea Cellular licences.

Gujarat Pipavav Port trades 2.65 percent higher at Rs 58 after Credit Suisse initiated an outperform rating and a target share price of Rs 66, citing high entry barriers in the container business, a stronger balance sheet and risk-reward versus peers. The research house said a strong parent in Maersk Lines gives the company critical mass of volume and visibility.

BPCL, Kotak Bank, Reliance, Maruti, HCL Tech and Cairn are among the leading gainers.

Meanwhile Kingfisher Airlines is down 8 percent at Rs 19 after the aviation regulator asked the carrier to provide a specific timeline for getting its grounded aircraft back in the air and for its recapitalisation efforts.

Shares of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories trade 0.14 percent higher at Rs 1,583 after Morgan Stanley said the share price will rise in absolute terms over the next 45 days, citing expectations of strong October-December results, driven by momentum in the base business and short-term Zyprexa exclusivity. The bank added that valuations appear inexpensive at current levels based on FY12 and FY13 expected earnings.

Refinieries recover, Bharti Shipyard falls on downgrade

10: oo am Markets remain rangebound today as there is no sense of direction from global cues. Currently the Sensex trades are down 68 points at 15,788.60 while the Nifty is trading lower by 30.50 points or 0.64% at 4,719.45 with 39 components falling.

Bharati Shipyard has fallen 0.99 percent to Rs70 after rating agency Care reportedly downgraded borrowings of the ship building firm to inadequate safety from moderate safety. As per reports, the downgrade was due to Bharati Shipyard's difficulty in refinancing short tenure loans, elongated operating cycle and further fall in profit margins in the first half of fiscal year 2012.

Meanwhile public sector oil marking companies recover as crude oil futures decline for the second consecutive day. BPCL is up 2.06 percent to Rs. 470.30, HPCL is up 1.71 percent to Rs 244.45 and Indian Oil Corporation is up 0.65% to Rs 254.55.

Sensex plunges in early trade, banks & Kingfisher trade lower

9:30 am The BSE Sensex plunged over 100 points in opening trade and currently trades at 5,794, down 62 points over the previous close, with 22 of its components falling.The 50-share NSE index is down 0.36 percent down at 4,732.65.

Kingfisher Airlines fell more than 11 percent after the aviation regulator asked the carrier to provide a specific timeline for getting its grounded aircraft back in the air and for its recapitalization efforts. Concerns over the airline's debt and shortage of funds to run operations have also led to this plunge. Group company United Spirits too lost 3.5 percent.

As public sector banks have high exposure to the aviation sector,the risk of non performing assets is higher. On Thursday SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said Kingfisher Airlines' outstanding loan is an NPA for the bank. As a result the risk of bad loans has hit banks today. IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Allahabad Bank are trading down over 1 percent.

ONGC lost 1.64 percent to Rs 258 after the stock turned ex-dividend today for an interim dividend of Rs 6.25 per share for the year ending March 2012. Before turning ex-dividend, the ONGC stock offered dividend yield of 2.38 percent based on closing price of Rs. 262.30 on Thursday, 5 January 2012. ONGC's board had also approved an interim dividend of Rs 6.25 per equity share of Rs 5 each for FY 2012 at that meeting and had set 9 January 2012 as record date for interim dividend.

Indian markets are expected to open in red and trade in negative terrain on the back of no clear direction from the global counters. "We are still in a trading range which could be hovering around 4,680-4,790. Support for Nifty is at 4,725 resistance at 4,775," said brokerage Mehta Equities.

Sensex likely to open in the negative on higher crude prices, European woes

9:00 am The BSE Sensex is likely to open lower today with a negative bias as as investors brace for sluggish earnings results this month. Moreover, there are two underlying factors that may determine the movement of the market today- higher crude prices and resurfacing European debt problems.

"There are some major disappointments expected once the earning season rolls out," said Jigar Shah, senior vice-president at KIM ENG Securities. "Also the weakening of the euro is impacting sentiment as it could hurt the exchange rate at home," Shah said.

Kingfisher Airlines will be watched after the aviation regulator asked the carrier to provide a specific timeline for getting its grounded aircraft back in the air and for its recapitalization efforts. Reuters

Asian shares edged down and the euro hovered near a 16-month low against the dollar and an 11-year low against the yen on Friday on worries the euro zone debt crisis is crippling European banks.

At 0238 GMT, the MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.95 percent, while the Nifty India stock futures in Singapore were down 0.48 percent, pointing to a lower opening for the domestic market.

Stocks to watch out for:

Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines will be watched after the aviation regulator asked the carrier to provide a specific timeline for getting its grounded aircraft back in the air and for its recapitalization efforts. Moreover, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri last evening said that Kingfisher Airline's outstanding loan is a non-performing asset for the bank. Kingfisher Airlines has 90 days to pay the outstanding amount.

DoT is likely to terminate six Idea Cellular licences, said a PTI report. The telecom ministry may impose an additional Rs 300 crore penalty on Idea for violating norms. The stock is likely to open lower today.

Honda to challenge market leader as it plans cheapest bike at ex-show room price of Rs 30,000, said an Economic Times report.

LIC Housing Finance, battered by corruption over a year ago, is leaning on its parent's 1.5million agents and chasing middle-class customers to revive growth and erase the blot, said a report in the Economic Times.

Maruti Suzuki plans to launch at least four cars in 2012 across different segments to shrug off a forgettable 2011 and regain market share .

Fortis Healthcare (India) said late Thursday evening that ECL Finance and six other entities have acquired a 6.18 percent stake in the company. However, financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.The stock may move up in opening trade today.

PSU stocks eyed as the finance ministry is likely to infuse Rs 17,000 crore into public sector banks in the current fiscal to help them meet their capital requirements and enhance lending operations.

* Eros International Media after a top official told Reuters the company expected earnings to rise 30 percent both this fiscal year and next as Indian film-goers clamour for more 3D and other digitally enhanced offerings.

* Pfizer Ltd after the drugmaker's board approved setting up a new unit to spin off its animal health business.

The country's leading integrated infrastructure conglomerate the Adani Group announced commissioning of a 40-MW solar power generation plant in Kutch district of Gujarat.